Maryland men’s soccer has spent much of 2018 with a losing record, unfamiliar territory for a team that used to be a perennial title contender.

A 3-1 upset of then-No. 18 Coastal Carolina remains Maryland’s lone marquee victory this season. At 4-4-3, the Terps have relied on wins over unranked opposition to maintain a hint of postseason relevance.

Despite those four losses, coach Sasho Cirovski has yet to see a game where his team was outmatched by its opponent. The Terps have found solace in their consistent competitiveness heading into their final five games of the regular season.

“We lost some games when we made some mistakes, some teams have made some plays,” Cirovski said. “But there’s not been a single game where I’ve felt like we were outclassed, or outplayed or we were second best.”

[Read more: Maryland men’s soccer holds on for scoreless draw at Georgetown]

To Cirovski, that statement still rings true when considering a pair of two-goal shutout losses — the team’s largest margins of defeat this year.

Despite conceding two first-half goals in the season-opener at Washington, Maryland ended up with more shots than the Huskies in their 2-0 defeat. In last week’s 2-0 loss to Michigan State, the first goal came off a header on a free kick for a foul Cirovski said was unnecessary, and the second came just two minutes after a red card left the Terps shorthanded.

Even though the mental miscues cost Maryland an opportunity at beating the now-No. 8 Spartans, the Terps believe their challenging schedule has improved their mental strength.

“The results haven’t been there. We’ve been lacking that through the year,” forward Eric Matzelevich said. “But being mentally tough in the games and sticking with the opponents … it’s really made us tougher.”

[Read more: Maryland men’s soccer’s scoreless draws show the strength of its defense]

Maryland’s other losses this season — to UCLA and Wisconsin — were each by one goal, leaving the Terps feeling they deserved a better outcome.

But merely being competitive doesn’t do anything for the team’s record. With the postseason looming, Maryland will look to limit the games that could’ve been wins, and turn them into tangible results.

The Terps will have more opportunities at season-defining wins, with games against No. 3 Denver, No. 4 Indiana and No. 16 Michigan still left to play. Midfielder Amar Sejdic believes his team is mentally capable of winning those games against some of the nation’s top teams, including on the road against the Hoosiers on Friday.

But to get over the hump, Sejdic said, the Terps need to come out of the gates stronger. Maryland has scored just two first-half goals this season, the only times the team has opened the scoring in a contest.

“That’s something we need to do more often to take control of games,” Sejdic said. “Right from the get-go, put our foot on the accelerator, get a goal and then we can play the game as is. It’d be great to go up 1-0, but that’s up to us to make it happen.”

The Terps offense has stalled in recent games. After being shut out by Michigan State and Georgetown, Maryland has been kept off the board in more than half its matches this season. There are 22 players in Division I who have scored as many goals — nine — as Maryland has as a team.

Matzelevich believes taking better advantage of practices during the week is the key to correcting the scoring struggles, but the compact schedule doesn’t allow for much training between matches.

“The games come really fast,” Matzelevich said. “So when you do have time to improve in training, you definitely want to make the most of whatever drills you’re doing and being clinical in front of goal so it translates to the game.”

This season, the Terps are averaging more shots per game than their opponents, an indication that they’ve outplayed teams in terms of offensive opportunities.

Sejdic, however, knows that isn’t good enough. The senior captain agrees staying competitive is a promising sign, but he expects effort to start turning into wins.

“I don’t want to be that team every single time,” Sejdic said. “At the end of the day, I want all of our players to walk off and achieve a result, but also to know we outworked them.”